The present disclosure relates generally to jewelry and, more particularly, to invertible decorative elements, more commonly known as invertible charms, or “flip charms,” which are typically strung on a chain worn by a user around a neck, wrist, ankle or other body part and which further have two faces and do not use bails or jump rings to attach to chains.
Charms, also called pendants, are known, and are generally connected to chains via visible bails, jump rings or other loop-type structures that are attached to the charm and which allows the chain to be threaded through the loop such that the charm hangs from the chain. However, charms equipped with these linkages have a tendency to flip horizontally, or twist about-face, thereby rotating along a vertical axis, so that the back face is showing rather than the ornamental front face. One possible solution to this flipping problem is to use two bails in a “rabbit ear” configuration, where the bails are connected to the top or back of the charm and are spread apart at a distance. While this approach lessens the occurrence of flipping, the bails must still be of an appropriate size to clear the chain's clasp. The bails are also visible components of the jewelry, which is less desirable as bails generally do not contribute to the overall design of the charm. The ring 4 or bail 5 also may be appropriately sized to be larger than the diameter chain but smaller than the clasp of the chain which prevents the charm from being removed from the chain and/or allow interchangeability with other charms without breaking or severing the ring 4 or bail 5.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to manufacture a slideable charm that does not have visible bails or jump rings and has two ornamental surfaces so that in the event the charm flips, an ornamental surface is always visible. It is also advantageous to provide one or more charms which may be independently flipped vertically or rotate along a horizontal axis between two ornamental surfaces, and may be individually assembled or interchanged on a chain to provide a multitude of different design combinations.